3 found dead in Lee County; questions remain

Wiley Young, 55, his fiancee Danica McCord, 46, and her daughter Destiny McCord, 13, were all in church Sunday morning but that was the last time they were all seen outside their home in the Macedonia community.
The three were found dead in their Lee County Road 49 home around 8:30 Tuesday morning by Young’s son Jason, a Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks game warden.
Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said friends and family tried to call the three Monday but had no luck.
Johnson said the bodies were found in the living room and kitchen area of the house with one fatal gunshot wound each.
One gun, a .45-caliber handgun, was found at the scene but Johnson said it was about equal distance from each body.
The gun has been taken to the crime lab in Batesville and the bodies to Jackson for autopsies.
The young girl, Destiny McCord, was found closest to the front door, her mother in the kitchen area and Young between the two.
Johnson said he will not confirm the specific nature of the shooting – whether a suicide, homicide-suicide or shooting involving someone outside the home – but said investigators believe the shooting was contained within the home and that the community has no reason to worry about a loose suspect.
“We do not believe we have anyone that we are looking for in the general area that would be responsible for this and you can take that for what it’s worth,” Johnson said. “We want people to know it is safe and there is no need for alarm at this point.”
Grieving family members began to arrive at the crime scene around 9:30 a.m.
Investigators swept the area in and around the home all morning and then removed the bodies at 1 p.m. to transport them to Jackson for autopsies.
Destiny McCord was a seventh grader at Guntown Middle School and a guard on the school’s basketball team.
“She was a wonderful kid,” said Principal Steven Havens. “She was a great representative of our school. She was just a sweet, kind, little girl.”
Havens said counselors will be at the school today to help grieving students and teachers.
Charlotte Dobson is one of the nearest neighbors, about two hundred yards south of the McCord home. She said she hadn’t heard or seen anything suspicious in the last few days.
“I never met them but I would see them in the back yard shooting guns,” she said. “This has really freaked everyone out.”
James Dillard lives south of Dobson.
“We were shocked,” he said about seeing emergency crews lining the streets Tuesday morning. “They were very nice folks.”
This is the first time this year someone has died in Lee County during an altercation involving a weapon. Johnson said this is also the first time in his memory that three people have died in the same incident in the county.
Johnson said authorities will release more information once the autopsies are complete.
jb.clark@journalinc.com